Structural elements including rack,blocks,shafts,and endless resilient means



Dec. 23. 1969 FISCHER 3,484,982

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS INCLUDING RACK, BLOCKS, SHAFTS, AND

ENDLESS RESILIENT MEANS Filed Feb. 1, 1967 Fig,1

INVEN TOR. ARTUR FISCHER mu: me- *7 United States Patent O STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS INCLUDING RACK,

BLOCKS, SHAFTS, AND ENDLESS RESILIENT MEANS Artur Fischer, Gruenmettstettterstrasse 133, Tumlingen, Germany Filed Feb. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 613,199 Claims priority, applifiition Germany, Feb. 8, 1966,

48,372 Int. Cl. A63h 33/02, 33/10; A47f 7/00 US. C]. 46-16 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A kit including connectable construction elements and at least one rack member for holding portions of shaft members. The rack has recesses configurated to accept one of these shaft portions or connecting portions of the other connectable elements with a tight frictional fit. An endless coil spring coacts with the rack to retain the shafts therein for storage. The spring is also usable as a transmission element in a toy.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS A toy building kit of the type with which the rack in accordance with the present invention can be used to particular advantage is disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 580,943, filed on Sept. 21, 1966, and entitled Toy Building Kit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Building kits such as the one disclosed in my abovementioned copending application are used not only for construction replicas of buildings and the like, but also for constructing replicas of vehicles, machinery and so on. In many such applications it is necessary to pro vide shafts which serve as axles, pivot points, and for similar purposes.

Of course, such shafts are not particularly large and can therefore be easily lost, not only when the building kit is in the possession of a child, but even during storage at the factory or at a store, for instance if the package or the wrapping thereof is damaged. To avoid such losses it is customary to secure the various shafts which are supplied with each kit to one another by means of a paper wrap, rubber bands or thin plastic foil. This is not very satisfactory, however, since all of these expedients either cannot be reused once the shafts have been removed for the first time, or are subject to quick deterioration and loss of usefulness.

It is therefore desirable to provide a more durable manner of packing the shafts, and of making it possible to repack the shafts many times when the kit is not in use by the child. Ideally, and for reasons of economical utilization of materials as Well as positively prevent discarding of the packing material, such packingmaterial should be in form of a rack which not only can accept the shafts and act as holder therefor, but which also can cooperate with the other elements of the toy building kit and serve with them in a structural capacity. A solution of this type would obviously enhance the utility and versatility of the kit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the disadvantages outlined above, and provides the desired improvements.

More particularly the present invention provides a rack, for shaft members and similar elements of a toy building kit, which is re-usable for an almost unlimited number of times.

vide such a rack which, it is to be understood, is for use in conjunction with shaft members and other elements of a toy building kit. In one embodiment of the invention, the rack may comprise at least one support member which is provided with a plurality of recesses, and each of the latter is adapted to receive a portion of one of the above-mentioned elements. It will be clear that the respective element is thus positioned and maintained in predetermined relationship relative to the support member.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top-plan view of a rack in accordance with the invention, showing the rack as holding a plurality of shafts in place;

FIG. 2 is an end view of two of the support members constituting the rack shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view of a structural element of the type utilized in toy building kits in which the novel rack may find use;

FIG. 4 is a side-elevational view of an exemplary instance of use of my novel rack;

FIG. 5 is a partially sectioned side-elevational view showing another exemplary instance of use of the novel rack; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of the arrangement in FIG. 4, as seen in the direction of the arrow Z thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, and firstly FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that in one possible embodiment the invention comprises a rack consisting of three support members which are respectively designated with reference numers 1, 1 and 2. The support members 1 and 1 are identical and are arranged, as clearly evident from FIG. 1, in mirror-symmetrical relationship. There is also provided the support member 2 which differs fom the support members 1 and 1 as an examination of FIG. 1 establishes.

FIG. 2 represents an end view of support member 1 as seen in the direction from the support member 2, and further an end view of the support member 2 as seen from the direction either of support member 1 or of support member 1. It should be noted that FIG. 2 does not show an end view of the support member 1' because, as pointed out above, this is identical with support member 1. FIG. 2 indicates that the support members are each provided with a plurality shaft-receiving means in form of recesses, which in the case of the support member 1-and of the non-illustrated identical support member 1'are designated with reference numeral 4. The recesses in the illustrated embodiment are of quadratic cross-section and are separated by wall portions 3. The showing of the quadratic cross-section is intended only as an example since the cross-section could be selected as desired, of

course in dependence upon the cross-sectional configuration of the members or portions of members which are to be accommodated in these recesses.

The recesses 4 in the support members 1 and 1' are in effect blind bores, which is to say that they do not go through the entire member and thus have only one open end. This is evident most clearly from FIG. 1 Where the recesses are shown in dashed lines. By contrast, the recesses which in FIG. 2 are indicated with reference numerals 14 and which are separated by wall portions 13, will be seen on the basis of the dashed lines in FIG. 1 to extend through the entire support member 2.

Thus, the novel rack shown in FIG. 1 can be used for the packaging arrangement illustrated in that figure. It will be seen that a plurality of shafts 8 are secured by the rack to one another for storage purposes by having their respective opposite end portions extend into the recesses 4 of the support members 1 and 1. To support the shafts 8 in the middle, they can be inserted through the recesses 14 of the support member 2, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Frequently, a toy building kit will contain a plurality of shafts which all have a certain length, and another plurality of shafts which also have a certain length probably different from the length of the first shafts. In such a case the first shafts can be supported by having their end portions extend into the bores 14 of the support member 2 and into the bores 4 of one of the support members 1 or 1', whereas the end portions of the second plurality of shafts extend into the bores 14 of the support member 2 from the other side thereof and into the bores 4 of the other of the support members 1 or 1'. Particularly under these circumstances it is important that the bores 4 do not extend all the way through the support members 1 or 1' and FIG. 1 shows the wall portion of these support members which remains free from penetration by the bores 4.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary construction different from that in FIG. 1. Again, the support members are indicated with the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1, but in FIG. 4 it will be seen that two different shafts 8 and 8" are maintained in predetermined relationship by being secured to the support members 1 and 2, respectively. It should be noted, incidentally, that in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 the components of the rack do not act as a packaging arrangement, but rather as components of the construction kit since the arrangement shown in FIG. 4 is intended as a replica of :a fence.

FIG. 6 is a view of the support member 1 shown in FIG. 4, as seen in the direction of the arrow Z and indicates that the non-apertured wall portion 9 is provided with an inwardly extending recess or groove 10, which is also indicated in FIG. 1. The purpose of this groove 10, as apparent from FIG. 1, is to accommodate an endless elastically extensible element, such as a spring 7 which can serve as a transmission element for constructions erected with the toy building kit and, when placed around the assembly shown in FIG. 1 so that it is received in the grooves 10 of support members 1 and 1', acts not only to oppose movement of the support members 1 and 1 away from each other, thus maintaining the arrangement in its desired state of assembly, but also stored in this manner.

It has been pointed out earlier that the support members 1, 1 and 2 serve not only as a storage rack, but also as structural elements of the toy building kit. FIG. 3 shows a building block member 6 common in toy building kits such as are described in my above-mentioned copending application and which have interconnecting means in form of recesses and this, in case of the illustrated block 6, a projecting coupling head 5 which serves to connect the block 6 to other similar building blocks of the kit in the manner set forth in my copending application.

At the same time, however, the coupling head 5, which preferably has a square cross-section can be received and frictionally retained in any of the recesses 4 or 14, thus making possible the action of the building block 6 to any of the support members 1, 1 or 2, and vice versa. Such action is shown in FIG. 5 where a portion of the support member 1 is broken away to show the coupling head 5 received in one of the recesses 4 of the support member 1.

It will be understood, of course, that various modifications of the exemplary embodiments described above are encompassed in the inventive concept. Thus, the crosssectional configuration of the recesses 4 and 14 need evidently not be quadratic and the overall configuration 0f the support members need not be identical with that shown. A single support member could in itself serve as a rack for packing and storing the shafts. Also, various materials are suitable for making the novel rack, and of these synthetic plastic material having some resiliency is preferred.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of toy building kits differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a rack for use in conjunction with the toy building kit, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. A toy building kit comprising a plurality of structural elements including shaft members and building block members, said building block members being pro vided with interconnecting means in the form of recesses and male coupling heads, rack means including at least one support member having a plurality of shaft-receiving means in the form of recesses each adapted to receive a portion of one of said shaft members, whereby the respective shaft members may be positioned and maintained in predetermined relationship relative to each other and to said support member for storage purposes, said shaft-receiving means being additionally adapted for securement with said coupling heads.

2. A toy building kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said rack means comprises an additional support member also having a plurality of shaft-receiving means in form of recesses each adapted to receive a portion of one of said shaft members.

3. A toy building kit as defined in claim 2, wherein said support members are spaced apart and adapted for respectively receiving spaced end portions of said shaft members; and further comprising means opposing movement of said support members away from each other.

4. A toy building kit as defined in claim 3, wherein said support members have respective first sides adapted to face toward each other and respective second sides adapted to face away from each other, said recesses respectively being provided on said first sides and extending inwardly toward but terminating short of the respective second sides.

5. A toy building kit as defined in claim 4, wherein the respective second sides of said support members are each provided with a recess, and wherein said means opposing movement of said support members is an endless resiliently extensible member extending between and around said support members and having spaced-apart portions respectively received in one of said recesses.

6. A toy building kit as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said support members has two sides, said recesses respectively extending inwardly from one of said sides toward the other but terminating short thereof.

7. A toy building kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said recesses are each adapted to receive a respective portion of a respective shaft member in tight frictional engagement with such portion.

8. A toy building kit as defined in claim 7, wherein said shaft members are of circular cross-section and said coupling heads are of polygonal cross-section, and wherein said recesses are configurated for receiving portions having either cross-sectional configuration.

9. A toy building kit as defined in claim 8, wherein said recesses are of polygonal cross-sectional configuration.

10. A toy building kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said support member has two sides, and wherein said recesses are open-ended passages extending between said sides.

11. A toy building kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said support member consists of synthetic plastic material.

12. A toy building kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said support member consists of substantially rigid material.

13. A toy building kit comprising, in combination, a plurality of structural elements, including building blocks provided with interconnecting means for interconnecting said building blocks with one another, and further including elongated shaft members; rack means including at References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,172,856 2/1916 Williams 20666 1,201,710 10/1916 Finch 46-26 2,587,798 3/ 1952 Wilcox 4629 X 3,274,728 9/ 1966 Koch 4629 FOREIGN PATENTS 559,934 8/1957 Belgium. 78,042 4/ 1962 France. 553,254 6/1932 Germany. 809,236 7/ 1951 Germany.

F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XR. 

